In the meantime, the forest, which till then had been calm, began all at once to grow excited, the birds flew about uttering cries of terror, and in the thick underwood they could hear the dry branches crack under the hurried footfalls of the wild animals.
"What's going on now?" said Loyal Heart, stopping, and looking round him with uneasiness; "the forest appears to be turned topsy-turvey!"
The hunters sprang up to the top of the tree in which they were, and which happened to be one of the loftiest in the forest.
An immense light tinged the horizon at about a league from the spot where they were; this light increased every minute, and advanced towards them with giant strides.
"Curses on them!" cried Belhumeur, "the Comanches have fired the prairie!"
"Yes, and I believe this time that, as you said just now, we are lost," Loyal Heart replied coolly.
"What's to be done?" said the Canadian, "in an instant we shall be surrounded."
Loyal Heart reflected seriously.
At the end of a few seconds he raised his head, and a smile of triumph curled the corners of his mouth.
"They have not got us yet," he replied; "follow me, my brother;" and he added in a low voice, "I must see my mother again!"